


Against the Current

by experimentaldragonfire



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, Lapidot Week 2018, Princess AU, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 15:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15585072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/experimentaldragonfire/pseuds/experimentaldragonfire
Summary: After sneaking out of her castle to finally spend a day on the beach, Lapis Lazuli encounters a strange girl singing amongst the tide pools.





	Against the Current

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a few minutes late posting this, but this is my piece for Day 1 of Lapidot AU Week, "Pirates/Princesses/Mermaids"! Though there are no pirates in this fic, the other two certainly feature! 
> 
> I actually had a lot more planned out for this fic, but had to condense it lest it become yet another multichapter to consume my life. So even though this is complete for now, I plan on coming back and adding to it once I've finished the majority of Tipping The Scales. Anyway, hope you enjoy this as it is!

The saltwater tang of the breeze hit Lapis as soon as her bare feet touched the gritty rock that the castle perched on; a scent that had been present in the background of her childhood memories, but which she had never experienced as strong as this. She inhaled deeply, fighting the urge to burst out into loud, joyful laughter. She was still too nearby—somebody might hear her!

Brushing off her palms on the plain blue skirt she wore (the simplest she could find, buried deep in the back of her wardrobe), she turned to face the horizon. A short walk away from the castle foundations lay the ocean, the blue-grey expanse that Lapis had been fascinated by for as long as she could remember. The one place that her parents had told her was off-limits.

But they couldn’t keep her stuck inside forever! After weeks of carefully hoarding bedsheets, Lapis had made her escape out the window. Now, if she was lucky, she’d be able to have a few hours to herself, and finally go see what all the fuss was about the sea. She hiked up her skirt to above her knees and set off, careful to keep an eye out for the castle guards.

After about ten minutes of walking in silence, the rough stone and scrub grass underfoot began to give way to softer sand, a substance that shifted under Lapis’ feet as she walked. The faint sound of waves breaking against the shore intermingled with the calls of seabirds. Lapis picked up the pace, nearly at a run as she scaled the rows of dunes. Finally, _finally_ , she stumbled to the top of the sand piles, and there it was! Empty shoreline stretched out before her to one side, and to the other lay a series of rocky tide pools. She looked around and grinned, before full-on sprinting down the dune, stumbling onto the damper sand and letting her momentum careen her into ungraceful somersaults, picking up strands of seaweed as they tangled themselves into her dark hair.

Eventually, Lapis came to a stop, lying on her back and gazing up at the clear sky, her chest heaving as she pulled in deep breaths of the fresh air. This was… _right._ This was what life was supposed to be. Not sitting in a dim, dusty castle, spending her days learning how to do embroidery and how to walk without tipping a stack of books off of her head. No, life was meant to be _fun._

A new sound caught her attention, distinct from the seabirds and the wind. Faintly, above the noise of the waves, Lapis heard what could, generously, be called _singing_. She rolled over and propped her head up on her hand, listening. After a minute or two, she determined that the nasal voice seemed to be coming from down the beach, towards the tide pools and larger rocks.

She lay in consideration for a moment, before deciding that, having nothing else to do, she may as well pursue the strange singer. Anyway, it wasn’t like anybody around here would recognize her, right?

Lapis strolled towards the pools, skirting around their edges as not to disturb the sea life nestled within. The rocks at this end of the beach were significantly larger than the ones she had encountered before, and they obscured many of the deeper pools.

She knew she was getting close to the source of the singing, but wasn’t sure how close Maybe just a few more meters? Lapis peered around a particularly large rock, and realized she had been a little off with her estimate.

Curled up along the edge of one of the largest tide pools yet was…a girl? She was wearing some sort of green top that looked as if it might have had its origins as strands of seaweed, and her salt-crusted blonde hair was stiffened into a style that was, for lack of a better word, borderline _triangular_. She seemed annoyed, her face screwed up in concentration as she opened her mouth to continue with her song and—

Lapis must have made some sort of sound, because all of a sudden, the girl’s head whipped around and she found herself staring into the most vivid green eyes she had ever encountered. She held up her hands and backed away, waiting for the girl to confront her, while taking the chance to get a better look at this mysterious stranger. Her eyes traveled downwards towards the waterline, falling on—

A _tail?_ ” Lapis exclaimed, forgetting for a moment that she was supposed to be acting stealthy and inoffensive. The girl’s expression changed to one of extreme irritation.

“What’s wrong with my tail? It’s better than those two…gravity stilts you’ve got!”

Lapis bit back a laugh. “No, no, there’s nothing wrong with it. I just wasn’t expecting you to have one? I mean, I guess I’ve heard about mermaids in old stories, but I didn’t believe you actually existed. And that you sounded like… _that_.”

“My voice is FINE! It’s….it’s….” she sighed. “I know. It’s awful. I’m the only one out of my entire family who can’t sing well. And they all expect me to be able to practice, and fix it, and no matter how much I try, I never sound any different!”

Lapis hummed in sympathy. “I know how hard it can be to live up to expectations,” she began. “I’m not even supposed to be out here right now. My parents have always forbidden me from going near the ocean. I climbed out of my window just so that I could see what it was like.”

The mermaid tilted her head in curiosity. “I can’t imagine never being able to see the ocean. It’s,” she laughed briefly, “quite literally, my life.”

Lapis sighed and carefully perched herself by the edge of the tide pool, arranging her trailing skirt so it didn’t drape into the water and leaning back against a rock. “You’re lucky. I’d give anything to be able to stay here for longer. But I should probably be getting back before they find out I’m gone.”

“You could always…sneak out again? I’m here a lot—I’ve got three older sisters who are expected to learn how to run the kingdom, so nobody really keeps track of what I’m doing besides to harass me about my singing.”

“There’s an entire mermaid kingdom?”

“Yep. And I just had the wonderful luck to be born as the daughter of the king.”

Lapis leaned closer to the edge of the tide pool, studying the other girl’s face. She didn’t _look_ like any of the other royalty Lapis had encountered…but then again, neither did Lapis herself.

“My parents are the king and queen of the land around here…I guess I never considered that the sea might also have rulers. But I’m their only child—that’s why they don’t want me to go near the ocean. They’re afraid something might happen to me.”

The mermaid frowned, and then swam up to the edge of the pool where Lapis was sitting. Carefully, she took one hand and placed it on top of Lapis’. The cool dampness of her touch sent a shiver up Lapis’ spine.

“It’s almost nice that they worry about you, though. Mine don’t, not really. Not unless I get into some kind of trouble.” She met Lapis’ gaze, her piercing green eyes seeming to stare straight into Lapis’ thoughts. Lapis tried not to let herself dwell on the fact that now the mermaid was closer, she could see a smattering of tiny freckles across the bridge of her nose.

“Do you…expect to get into some kind of trouble here?” Distantly, Lapis noticed that her companion’s blonde hair was starting to curl into all kinds of odd pointy angles in the heat of the sun. She kind of wanted to try and twist them back into place. She wondered what the texture of such salt-encrusted locks would be.

The mermaid (Lapis realized they had never properly introduced themselves, just jumped right into their conversation) seemed to hesitate for a second, pulling back as if she was scared of answering the question. Then her eyes narrowed in determination, and her mouth set into a hard line.

“Maybe I do!” With that exclamation, the girl flicked her tail and pushed her lips against Lapis’, screwing her eyes shut and tightening her fingers over Lapis’ hands. Startled, Lapis didn’t react for a moment, but then let herself soften to the mermaid’s touch. She had wanted an adventure, and this definitely qualified! Her eyelids fell shut without her conscious instruction, and she was just becoming accustomed to the salty flavor of the other girl’s lips when she felt the blonde girl tear herself away.

“Whaa..?” Lapis managed, eloquently. The mermaid swam backwards, her green eyes wide. She turned as if to dive back into the tide pool, which Lapis was starting to realize was deeper than it originally seemed.

“Wait! At least tell me your name!” Lapis wasn’t sure she’d ever see the mermaid again, but she didn’t want to leave without finding out what she was called. The girl hesitated, and then turned back.

“Peridot! What’s yours?”

Lapis smiled. “I’m Lapis. Lapis Lazuli! I’ll come back here when I can, Peridot!”

Peridot grinned nervously, before flicking her lime-green tail out of the water and propelling herself into the depths. Lapis continued to sit by the tide pool, stunned, for a few minutes, lifting her hand to gently touch her lips, before the rays of the setting sun began to pierce through the clouds that had gathered while she was caught up in her conversation.

“Oh, _shit!”_ she exclaimed, springing off of the rocks and sprinting across the beach, skirt caught up in both hands. There was definitely no chance she would get back without being noticed now.

Just for a second, though, Lapis allowed herself to look back towards the ocean, and wonder whether or not she’d ever be able to slip away again and find Peridot amongst the waves.


End file.
